Television Review: Fringe, “Novation Not Assignation”

I went on a little vacation last weekend. Prior to the vacation I had a doctor’s appointment and worked three double shifts in three days. It was crazy. I came home to an unmade bed and piles of laundry. Woot. I’ve since done my laundry and used my unmade bed. I have a hard time thinking making a bed is necessary when it just gets slept in again. Anyhoo, my priorities for the trip were cramming everything I could into a backpack, making it to each place I work on time, and printing out my flight information. My priorities did not include scrambling around to type up my Fringe review before I left. I realize this should have been up almost a week ago, and I’m planning on getting back on track with another review tomorrow. ::crosses fingers::

“Novation” just made me sing in my head, “Peter’s Back! He’s really Back!” Me so happy! Plus the series starts to heat up with more background on the Translucent Zombies. The mythology of the new time line is explored, the monster of the week is fabulous, and Nina and Walter’s feud is explained. A great episode. I feel like the season is actually starting to move forward. So, Yay! AND PETER IS BACK!!! Woot!!!

Peter is back and spouting off top secrets so Broyles escorts him to a super secret facility to interrogate him. Don’ worry though, Peter is first and foremost a conman he can handle and interrogation. Walter is not handling any of this very well and resorts to different fluid drips to put him to sleep and to wake him up. Olivia tries to counsel Walter who is upset that the man he was haunted by for weeks now exists, and he isn’t allowed to examine him. But Olivia has some good news for Walter, this Peter dude will only speak with Walter. Says he’s Walter’s son. This is a major shock, but DNA tests show that there is a 97.99% chance that Peter really is Walter’s son. Walter wonder’s if the Alternate Universe (AU) sent Peter over, but Olivia questions if they would dream about him them.She understands there is something else going on. Poor Peter. God he’s hot. Peter realizes that Walter doesn’t know who he is, but Peter is still aware of the potential the Walter has to figure out the craziness of life. Peter needs Walter to figure out why no one remembers him. Peter says how the two universes were unstable and because one was dying the other was also, that Peter was the power source to try and heal them. But Walter tells Peter how he never created anything, that his son died and that Peter for the A.U. died in the lake that day. Peter is surprised the there was no Observer at the lake to save him. Then realizes that he effectively became a paradox, the Observers needed to delete him in order to heal both worlds. Then Peter follows through with the logic and asks, well how can he be back now. If he is not supposed to be there, how did he come back. This is why I love Peter, he is so freaking smart. He follows through the logic train to its end and asks the big questions.

Meanwhile, the translucent zombies are back with the Asian woman having taken on the skin suit of a human looking for a file. The husband returns, notices his wife is acting weird, and then finds his real wife under the bed. The “wife” turns into the Asian Translucent Zombie (ATZ). The Zombies are back. The team hears about the woman dying, the man was not her husband but instead was her boyfriend. Her ex-husband used to work for Massive Dynamics, Dr. Truss. The team heads out to hunt him down because the ATZ is after him, but the ATZ finds him first and pulls a gun.

Olivia and Agent Lee go to Nina to find out what they can about Dr. Truss. Olivia tells Agent Lee that she and her sister were foster kids of Nina. Iiiiinnnteresting. Nina arrives and pulls up the file on Dr. Truss. He was working on a project about cellular replication, helping people with extensive skin issues. However, they never got the project to work because Bell just the program down due to ethical concerns. Olivia and Agent Lee head back to the office and tell Broyles about the Translucent Zombie. Peter has hacked into the intercom system and is listening to them. Peter tells them he knows how to decrypt the memory discs of the shape-shifters (of which the translucent zombies are a subset). They tell Peter about the new subset of zombies and he is still insistent he can help them. He just needs to talk to Walter. Peter gives a small heartbreaking speech about how he realizes he upset Walter before because he was acting like Walter was the same as the one Peter knew, but now Peter realizes Walter is not that person.

The ATL takes Dr. Truss at gun point and says that she needs him to continue his research, she shows off her translucent skin. She says that she was cured of cancer, by the skin regeneration project replacing her cancer skins, but the new cells are unstable. The cancer is gone, but she is still dying. Dr. Truss feels for her, and says he will help, but not at gun point. So when they stop for gas Dr Truss fills up the gas and the ATZ (aka Nadine) is bleeding. She goes to clean up, the police arrive when Dr. Truss is in the gas station store, and the ATZ kills the police person, but Dr. Truss does not notice. The two drive off into the sunset. But not for long, I’m sure.

Peter works on decrypting the memory card. Walter and Olivia discuss Peter. Olivia says, he’s your son I understand why he haunted you, but why did I dream about him. Olivia, he’s your soul mate! Though neither of us believe in soul mates. This is after-all a parallel world to two universes that collapsed on each other. So maybe there true love actually happens. Translucent zombies happen, why not true love. Nina shows up and tries to talk with Walter, she wants to get past their differences. But Walter blames her for the Young Version of A.U. Peter’s death. Saying because she was there on the bridge and somehow that messed things up. Walter then says that he should be punished for destroying two worlds and shouldn’t get to know Peter as a man. That doing so filled him with indescribable joy, but he doesn’t deserve joy. Nina says, maybe you have suffered enough. You have been given a second chance. Poor conflicted Walter. Get over yourself already. Peter decrypts the memory cards and we find out that it is a list of DNA sequences, that the Translucent Zombies are able to switch back and forth between the people they’ve replicated. And that they are indistinguishable from the people they replicate.

Dr. Truss finds the source of the ATZ’s problem, the genome has not truly replicated through the entire cells and so they break apart when the translucent zombies switch between people they’ve replicated. Dr. Truss says that Bell shut the program down because it went against God’s will to continue the project. Um. WTF? I wonder if religion will become a big component in the show. Dr. Truss gives the ATZ an injection. She has a reaction and her face changes. Dr. Truss asks her why she looks like his wife. He gets a bad vibe. This is bad shit dude, bad shit. What do you think this means? It hits him, he realizes his ex-wife is dead. The ATZ says that his wife’s death was for a greater purpose, and he should take back his legacy that bell stole. He actually seems to buy it. He says he can fix the problem and starts to inject her with a vial.

Peter figures out that the memory card is sending off a signal, but he needs a bigger computer to track it down. They realize that the shape-shifter/translucent zombies have a lo-jack attached to them and they can track the ATZ anywhere in the city. Olivia and Agent Lee rush of to find her and break down the doors. There is a shoot out. Dr. Tuss grabs the vial and runs, ATZ chases him and takes the vial. Olivia chases the ATZ. Who apparently can fly. What the hell was that jump about? She has shown no previous indication of super human strength. Hmmm. Olivia follows her up to the roof where an agent has been shot, but is still alive. He says the ATZ jumped into the water. And Olivia believes this dude. I mean come on, obviously the ATZ killed him and threw him into the water. Dr. Truss wonders if Bell had esp and that they shouldn’t tamper with things, that are part of God’s will or something like that. A dredge of the water reveals that it is actually the agent in the water and the ATZ got away. What did I tell you!!! Sheesh Olivia. You are smarter than this. Ugh.

Agent Lee asks Olivia out for a bite to eat. Merr? Olivia has a deja vu ish moment that seems like a hallucination. It’s weird, she gets the same files twice. Hmmm. What is that about? Walter and Peter talk, and Peter is so gentle and kind to Walter. Le Sigh. I have a huge character crush on Peter. Peter explains that he doesn’t know what to do, and no one can help him fix it but Walter. Walter has a break down, yet again, and says that Peter is was sent there to tempt him. He says that he can’t help Peter because he failed when he tried to help the previous Peters. But he was not my son, and neither are you.

Poor Peter!! ::Sadface::

The episode ends with the ATZ injecting herself with the vial and it helping/stabilizing her translucent skin. She gets on a typewriter. Dun Dun Dunnnnn. The serum works, send the others. So ends a very good episode. Peter is back and exploring how to handle his relationships with people who don’t remember him. More is discovered about the shape-shifters. All in all the series is starting to heat up, which is why I advocated for Peter returning sooner. But he is here now, and things can start happening. I’m excited.